FIELD NOTES 183 
[ ] the parts not fully written out. Of course, an alphabetical 
list of the contractions used must be kept by the worker. 
8.2.06. Cadney. — Bar [ometer] . 29.8.25 — They [mometer] . 
42 — [wind] N.N. W. Strong, squally — at times bitterly cold — with 
snowstorms — not lying. The date, and parish, township or hamlet 
where the observation was made should always be recorded. 
Yet all can easily be written on one sheet of any of the three 
sizes. Brevity is the soul of note-making, as well as of wit, if 
we only note all the facts. 
When the first note has been placed face upwards below the 
rest of the sheaf and stiffener, you are ready for your next \ 
record. As you ramble along, one of the birds of sport may 
frequently catch the eye, and a note such as this may be the 
result. Partridges — Pairs, coveys — and packed — The last means — 
prolonged rough weather. By the footpath side you catch sight of 
a grass in flower. It is the work of a few seconds to slip the 
pencil into your pocket, and to pluck the grass and hold it, 
whilst still retaining your sheaf of papers between the thumb 
and first finger of the left hand. The pocket lens is as quickly 
upon the tiny flowers, and an examination as rapidly made. It 
is the footpath grass we all know so well as a common garden- 
weed : it is pollinating too, and so is truly in flower. It is 
dropped to the ground, out comes the pencil again, and down 
goes a note. “ Poa annua — F [oot] P[ath] S[ide]. — Sa [ndy] 
Gl [acial] . Gr [avel] In fl [ower] . — C [omrnon] .” It is in 
flower every day of the year ; but only those who have full 
notes can prove the fact that frost alone stops it ripening its 
pollen. 
A bullfinch comes flitting along the hedge in his brilliant 
spring dress, and tries the crab-apple buds, to see if their hearts — 
the future flowers — are yet in a fit state for consumption. You 
observe it all, and as soon as he has passed on the pencil is 
busy. Bullfinch — Male — In full spring coat— Wild apple buds — for 
food. — Howsham. As you are in another hamlet now, you add its 
name. 
Crossing a stile you notice a yellow-green object lying on 
the grass. It is a casting thrown up by an overfed rook. It 
falls to pieces at once with a touch, and a note goes down : 
11 Rook casting on P [asture] — Peas only. — Brick fragments — for grit 
stones." On your way home by the footpath, you get on to quite 
another soil. When your next observation comes the fact is 
shown. Only one of the banded land shells is likely to be 
abroad in February in such weather. Curiously enough, it is 
only found in one limited area in a wide expanse of grass fields 
in this locality. You detect it, as I frequently have done in 
frosts, and amid melting snow. Down goes a note to record 
the fact : — “ Helix virgata. — One sp\ot\only — in open P [asture] . — 
Ch [alky] . Bo [ulder] . Cl [ay] . — L [ocally] C [omrnon] . Liv[ ing 
and dead." 
As you look over the next gate you detect a stoat and hare 
